Monday, May 9, 2011

Balbharati goes online

To beat annual shortage, Balbharati goes onlineStarting June, the textbooks for Std I to VIII will be available in PDF format on the website www.balbharati.in free of cost : Deepti Khera mirrorfeedback@indiatimes.comTo tackle perennial shortage of its textbooks, Balbharati has decided to upload them on its web site (www.balbharati.in) in the PDF format. Starting from June the textbooks, for Std I to VIII, will be available online free of cost.The PDF files will contain all the illustrations and exercises that the textbooks have. Balbharati has now been printing textbooks for nearly 55 years. An official from Balbharati, which also serves the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, said, “Each year Balbharati prints more than six crore textbooks. With such a huge amount of print orders, there is a possibility of a time lag. In order to avoid shortages, that would cause hardships to students, we have decided to take this move.”Priyanka Verma, a student studying in Std VI, said, “Last year, I enquired at all the local stores, but my math book was just not in stock. It was only a month after school started that I got the book. Till then I managed on photocopies.” Priyanka isn’t alone. Shimin Patel, parent of a Std VII student, had to go to the extent of writing to officials at Balbharati officials to get the science book for her daughter, as all the nearby stored were out of stock. Former Director of Balbharati Vasant Kalpande, whose idea it was to go online with the textbooks, said, “Students will no longer have to hunt for textbooks. We hope to start upload most books from the start of this academic year itself.”He added, “Some Marathi medium textbooks for Std I and II have already been uploaded.”Chairperson of Maharashtra’s Education Board Ujwala Patil also approved of the move, saying, “Students can now heave a sigh of relief.” Currently, Balbharati prints more than six crore textbooks every yearSource: Mumbai Mirror dated 9 May 2011